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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

It has been one week since I slipped on my steps and broke my leg in three places, had surgery and have now been home for a few days in the re-cooperating stage of things.

In many ways, I have put my thinking part on hold, and immersed myself in distraction; books, watching the chickadees at the feeder outside the window, and thanking my husband for his care.

I am winter-weary. Truly. I realized just how much so when yesterday, a dear friend slipped on her steps, and broke her back for the second time in four years. Even my mind was speechless when I heard the news.

So here I am this morning, finally drawn out of my own shell, so grateful in the end that He truly gives us the peace that passes all understanding.

I have been turning my mind toward spring ( which will come) and I thought of lilacs; the ones outside my window with the bird-feeder hanging on them, and imagined them in bloom.

I went to my favorite place for pictures with scripture and God is ever-faithful.

Thank you to Peter. 1st Peter 1:7

These (trials) have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

I love chickadees. They are such brave little souls, as are all of the other birds that brave these cold Maine winters.

They gather around the feeders and put such a cheerful face on things as the cold weather seems as though it will never end.

They are the picture of what God says in Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]? NIV

I am writing this in retrospect: Case-in-point.A Monday morning on the third day of June. Summer has finally shown up and the tourists and cottage residents are arriving in fits and starts.After a winter of almost no work, I have finally been able to get a job at a local retail store that is a family run business. There are a number of stores throughout the state and it is considered a Maine Adventure to pass through it's doors.I have really been exercising the muscles that allow me to trust in God's provision for me. What does that look like? It is something that I have to listen for and then to ponder on a day by day, minute by minute basis. It is a re-calibrating of the whole thought process. Of realizing and living by application, a life of faith and trust in someone much bigger than the world; who in fact, holds the atoms of creation together in the palms of his hand.The default mechanism of so many who seek to follow Christ is to think that we have to help Him, to help us. It brings to mind that old saying : Heaven helps those that help themselves.Where did that come from? Yet it is what I believed before I knew God for who He is. God helps those who seek his will and are willing to take "no" for an answer. The true desire of my heart, would be what He gives me , no matter what that turns out to be. It's a hard thing to wrap my brain around a good part of the time, yet time after time He has proven himself to me.Though most of my life has been that of feast or famine, last year was one of the biggest challenges I have faced in terms of having employment. I live in a State where it is a constant battle to make a living, even in the best of times. Many folks work two and three jobs to barely break even. I know that is the case in many places these days. Just how much work do I need to take on? When am I making it happen on my own, or giving God a chance to bless me in His own way? It is a question that I wrestle with.We are taught that being busy is being responsible. It's that Yankee thing I guess.